Minimalist Kitchen Essentials

August 6, 2018

Anyone who loves to cook spends a lot of time in the kitchen. And anyone who spends a lot of the time in the kitchen eventually gets overwhelmed by the amount of stuff they have tucked away in various cupboards and drawers.

When I hit this point, I started decluttering like a madwoman and eventually whittled my kitchen stuff down to the absolute essentials. These are the 60 or so things that I use on a regular basis and that add the most value to my adventures in the kitchen.

You’ll notice a lot of our stuff is from Sur La Table. Though many of these items were gifts from our wedding, I’ve definitely given into the myth that you need fancy gear to be a great cook more than a few times.

My advice is to avoid speciality stores and buy your kitchen essentials at restaurant supply stores or big box stores. Oxo is a solid brand that is readily available and I love the new Made by Design line at Target. Ikea is also a great option!

One last thing to remember is that minimalism comes in different shapes and sizes. Just because I set up our minimalist kitchen this way, doesn’t mean you have to follow suit. Hopefully this list gives you an example of how it can be done and inspires you to create a set-up that makes sense for your lifestyle and budget.

If you’ve made it this far, you’re probably thinking, “Really? A kitchen torch and rice cooker are essentials?!” Why yes, yes they are if you live in a house where you eat rice almost every day and get a real kick out of torching the sugar on top of a crème brûlée.

See, that’s the thing, minimalism is really a “to each their own” thing. If something adds value to your life or just sparks joy, then you should have no qualms about having it in your kitchen. Happy cooking!